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Although it might be mildly interesting to see how this small disco ball looks compared to the many satellites currently in orbit, including the already-bright ISS and the predictable and sometimes very bright specular reflections from Iridium flares (and some other, more random satellite flares), this "Humanity Star" seems to be rather pretentious in the concept that somehow, a significant percentage of the population will look at it, thus bring humanity together.

In any case, the linked finder at the promoter's web site isn't really much of a planning aid. Just go to the tried-and-true satellite tracker, Heavens-Above, where it's now listed. As of this writing, there are no visible passes for my NJ location through February 4, 2018. If you click the "all" button, there are a number of daylight and unlit night passes in the next week and a half.

The altitude parameters at H-A also show why it won't be in orbit too long. It now has a perigee of 292 km (181 miles) and an apogee of 521 km (324 miles). The ISS orbit is currently 402 x 407 km (250 x 253 miles), and it needs to be re-boosted on a regular basis to remain in orbit.

I was less successful at Cal-Sky, not finding anything by searching for Humanity, but C-S can often be inscrutable. Looking at objects launched in 2018, I did find several with orbits around 290 x 525 km, but they were described only as Object A, Object B and Object Debris, so I didn't pursue them further.

I believe the kerfuffle behind Humanity's Star is a tempest in a teapot. The object's going to be in space for nine months. It'll be visible for a few minutes at a time, at dawn/dusk, and no more distracting than the ISS or Iridium flares.

I wonder if the complaining scientifists, perhaps subconsciously, are using this as opportunity to tell us how important scientific research is to humanity. In a way, they might be blowing their own horn. They should not be the only judges here. Some people, like nature lovers of the nighttime sky, might not like the light caused by orbiting scientific space labs and instruments.

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